Bridgeton's Leone Industries manufacturing company sold to Luxembourg-based Ardagh Group

View full sizeStaff Photo by Cindy HepnerLeone sold to foreign interest Ardagh Group

BRIDGETON — The sale of locally founded and operated glass container manufacturing company Leone Industries to Ardagh Group, an international company based in Luxembourg, was announced this week.

Ardagh Group operates 91 metal and glass packaging facilities across 25 countries and said the acquisition of Leone Industries from the Leone family will increase the size of Ardagh’s glass division by approximately 10 percent.

“We are very pleased to have completed the acquisition of Leone Industries which will assist us to expand out U.S. activities into the glass container market,” said Niall Wall, Ardagh Group CEO. “It is an important step in developing our international glass franchise and will add scale and value to our business.”

Leone Industries has manufactured glass containers for sale in the United States food and beverage markets from its facility at 443 S. East Ave. in Bridgeton since 1966 and produces more than 500 million containers yearly.

Ardagh Group employs nearly 15,000 people worldwide, and has global sales in excess of $4.6 billion. Ardagh customers include Heineken, Coca Cola, Heinz and Nestle, among others.

Repeated attempts by The News to contact Leone Industries for comment were unsuccessful. It was unclear as of Wednesday afternoon what effect, if any, the sale will have on Leone’s local employees or operations.